The Forest Bleeds: A Novel

by Rachel Kitch

A speculative horror-romance that combines the magical dark academia of The Atlas Six , the unsettling atmosphere of Mexican Gothic , and the psychosexual power dynamics of The Last Housewife .

Saige Chambers, Arcane Bioengineering student and blood witch, is constantly anxious and chronically over-prepared. When Saige and her fellow witch doctoral candidates depart for a conference, she plans and anticipates every last detail. Except she’s not prepared for the moment their bus turns off the highway and takes them to a remote mansion in the Appalachian Mountains, the gates sealing shut behind them.

The mansion’s owner, Arius Medea, issues a simple fix his injured, rotting leg or die. But it’s no ordinary injury—the flesh melts off the bone, emitting waves of foul magic that set Saige’s blood alight. Saige’s colleagues want to fight back and escape. Saige thinks their best chance is to fix him fast and get out.

As tensions rise, Saige finds herself growing closer to Vaishnavi Sri, a poison witch and Saige’s long-term crush. But first impressions can be misleading, and as Saige’s reluctant attraction to Arius grows, she begins to wonder if there’s a better life waiting for her in the walls of this mansion.

But, as one by one, Saige's colleagues start to disappear, Saige realizes that dying may not be the worst option—because there are far worse fates lurking in the woods.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Adult, Witches

Audible Audio

First published October 13, 2026

About the author

RACHEL KITCH is a mixed-race Thai American speculative horror author with a love of writing unsettling, creepy books that still have a spark of light. Rachel has her master’s in design from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s from West Virginia University. As a generation 1.5 immigrant, Rachel loves to blend her heritage and incorporate Thai and Appalachian folklore into her projects.

When not writing, she can be found designing author brands and websites, or reading books on her Kindle that would kill a Victorian child. Keep up with her at www.rachelkitch.com or follow her on Instagram @rachkitchwrites.

Reviews

[The Reading Frog (Less online ATM) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Rachel Kitch, Union Square & Co. & NetGalley for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review

Rating: 4/5 ⭐
CW: I recommend checking the content warnings for this one.
Explicit | Blood, body horror, corpse description, death, entrapment, gaslighting, gore, grooming, gun violence, injury description, intrusive thoughts, manipulation, OCD behaviours, power imbalance, self-harm, sexual assault, torture, toxic/abusive relationship that mirrors a form of dom/sub, violence
Moderate | Cancer, drug addiction, grief, morbid thoughts, panic attacks, (past) parental death, racism, sexual harassment, vomit, xenophobia
Mild | animal death, excrement
CW by the author | The Forest Bleeds contains the following: body horror, cancer (including off-page parental loss), death, graphic descriptions of violence, grooming/abusive relationships, OCD behaviors (obsession with time, intrusive thoughts), self-harm, sexual assault, and suicidal ideation.
My chosen soundtrack(s): Goldrush - Paper Aeroplanes | The Taste Of Blood - SQÜRL, Jozef Van Wissem

“While you are my guests, your rules are simple. You will adhere to the schedule I set out for you. You will research, study, experiment, and analyze as much as needed to cure my condition. If you try to escape, you will die. If you try to fight, you will die. If you break my rules, you will die.”

Representation
╰┈➤ South(East) Asian characters
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Thai-American MC, Saige
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Vietnamese SC, Thuy
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Unspecified but implied Desi SC, Vaish
╰┈➤ Queer characters/dynamics
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Bi/Pan MC, Saige
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Unspecified, either Bi/Pan or Lesbian SC, Vaish
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ WLW dynamic
╰┈➤ Disability and mental health rep
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ OCD behaviours, intrusive thoughts and anxiety/panic attacks through MC, Saige
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Ambulatory cane usage through SC, Arius


Themes
Academia, autonomy, control or the lack thereof, cryptids, erasure of culture, grief, guilt, medical x magical, needing praise, oral history, parental relations, people pleasing, post-colonialism, predictability or the lack thereof, responsibility, routines, suppression, survivor's guilt, the model minority myth.


Tropes/What to expect
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Women in STEM
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Medical x Magical
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Fates worse than death
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Layered complex MC and dynamics
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Dark academia
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ High stakes
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Deadlines, but like, literally. DEADlines.


⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆


What I liked/loved
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Prologue | This novel introduces us to this universe with a chapter set in 1901 in which we get some info about the setting we'll spend most of the book in, and its gruesome history that haunts the plot. With grounds soiled in blood and unfinished business, the mood is set for the dark events still to come.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Worldbuilding and magic system | I would classify this world as urban-fantasy, but it definitely leans more towards fantasy. The setting sparingly allows for the usage of modern devices, which, in my opinion, adds to that more classic dark academia feel.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Magic x medical | The modern devices that are consistently used and mentioned in this novel are medical ones. Though my knowledge of STEM isn't on the level of the characters we follow, I really appreciate the way magic and traditional medicine both have their own well-thought-out place in this universe and come together in ways that were fascinating to read about.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I also enjoy that magic follows certain knowledge and set rules that make it feel more tangible, more science-like, which in turn makes it feel a little more realistic.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Law of equivalent exchange | It's a rule as old as time: to gain something is to lose something and vice versa. Everything has a cost. A principle I always enjoy in fantastical/magical stories.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Blood magic | If you were just as obsessed with bloodbending in Avatar: The Last Airbender as I was as a kid, you will be fascinated with this specific flavour of magic as well, though there are way more magic types just as interesting.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Social and political commentary of multiple themes:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Big Pharma
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Capitalism and classism
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Fetishisation and exploitation of (South-)East Asian women
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Racism, xenophobia and the model minority myth
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Discourse on loss of culture, language and knowledge in the pursuit of assimilation and acceptance
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Exploration of agency and autonomy through an abusive dynamic that can be seen as a device to explore colonisation.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Saige is a rule follower. A people pleaser. She would rather have someone else or a schedule direct her actions than have to make these decisions herself. Having to choose renders her paralysed and panicked and is a huge trigger for her OCD and intrusive thoughts.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This aspect is intrinsic to the story of 'The Forest Bleeds', where our characters are put in a highly dangerous and frightening situation, one that most people would do everything to escape from. Yet this hostage-esque situation elicits a certain sense of safety in Saige. It is predictable. There are rules to follow, punishments when they aren't, a fixed schedule, and even her outfits are chosen for her. Saige can just turn her brain off and do what is expected of her. A directive, something to do, the potential to be praised for a job well done.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Removing choice, removing agency, especially in the context of a white man doing so to (South-) East Asian women, very much mirrors the model minority myth and colonisation. In which (South-)East Asians, especially women, are seen as subservient and obedient. Something one can exploit and sexualise, presumably without resistance.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Though I enjoy this commentary, I do have some issues with the depiction of this specific dynamic, which I'll elaborate on in the "What I didn't like/felt lacklustre about" section.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Exploration of mental health | In this novel we share a headspace with Saige, who deals with OCD behaviours, panic attacks, intrusive and catastrophic thoughts and medication.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I personally feel like this aspect was extremely well written. We're not just told that Saige struggles with these things; it is felt in the way it is written. We are not only outside observers but get to experience these thoughts and actions together with Saige. I tended to feel more anxious when she did, and spiral along when she was overwhelmed, which was great for immersion.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I appreciated the inclusion of the desperate need to be (perceived as) "normal". To hide emotions and freak-outs even in situations where it is super valid to do so. It established how this is such an ingrained behaviour for Saige: cover, hide, be normal. I think many of us who deal with any mental health issues can relate to this.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Cryptids!!! What more can I say? I love me some weird creatures.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Sapphics with an academic-rival-to-allies-to-lovers type vibe! What more could you want, honestly?
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Huge focus on female characters, which is something I'm always grateful for.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Want to feel intense rage towards a man? Want to make your blood boil and crave a painful, horrifying end to someone's life? Want to have a revenge-fueled female rage moment? Want to crash out? This is the right book for you.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ I was mostly satisfied with its ending. The story resolves in a way that felt realistic and in line with the characters' personalities. It is not some fairy tale ending that wraps everything up in a pretty bow and decides everyone is happy now, but still felt fitting and satisfying.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The other part, the one I did not enjoy, I'll elaborate on in the next segment



What I didn't like/felt lacklustre about
‎ ‎ ‎ ✦ I'll start with my biggest issue: Arius and his dynamic with Saige. Which is fully responsible for not making this a 5-star read. I'll try to make my point without spoilers, but I have to share some info not provided in the blurb to state my case. Read at your own risk:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I was confused if the author wanted me to read Arius and Saige's dynamic as something to condemn or as a dark romance. It has a certain dark-shadow-daddy-esque quality that I didn't like. I don't mind darker subjects or exploration of something problematic as long as it is clear that the author condemns or critiques it or at least doesn't romanticise it, but the whole Arius situation made me uncomfortable. I do always appreciate depictions of imperfect victims, but in this case I'm unsure if that was what the author was depicting here.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ In the conclusion of this story, it does frame the dynamic as abusive and problematic, but some of the writing choices before that point made me feel like the author wanted the reader to be kind of into it? I wasn't. At all. Each interaction with Arius made me nauseous and scared for Saige, and not once did I read it as hot or anything adjacent. To me, it was clearly abuse, manipulation, grooming, SA, etc.; all I felt was disgust and nausea at an abuser taking advantage of someone. Which I think is somewhat the message of this book, but regardless, I still felt weird about some of the depictions.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I also wondered if Saige's attraction to this man was a form of self-harm, but it is never explicitly stated or condemned as such.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I considered that I might be missing the point. Maybe there is something deeper here that I, who is not a (South-)East asian women, might not understand or relate to when it comes to the lasting effects of colonialism, exploitation and the model minority myth and how it still shapes people and their relationships today.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Perhaps I just didn't "get it", or maybe I just wasn't the right target audience for that specific aspect since I am easily icked out by dark romance and also a raging dyke, so that might have contributed to it as well.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✦ I don't know how to feel about what a certain aspect of the ending implies. It felt a bit like a "gotcha" moment that I believe could have worked better if it was hinted at a little more in earlier chapters. This is but a minor complaint though!


Conclusion/Notes
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ For the most part, this was an absolutely amazing read! And I was actually quite surprised when I realised it is a debut, since the quality of writing didn't make me think so. It's well written, compelling, and has an interesting magic system.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I love the premise; extremely high stakes, tense and overall really compelling. It made me want to keep turning pages while huffing and puffing in distress. On multiple occasions, I had to put my e-reader to the side for a while just to stare in rage at the wall. Which might sound like a con to some people, but I personally love when books can make me feel intensely, regardless of the type of emotion felt.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The fusion of modern medicine and magic was fascinating, an aspect I really loved. It crafted a universe I'd be interested in exploring further if the author ever decides to write another story in it.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I recommend this book to anyone who loves dark academia, isn't afraid of some body horror, loves cryptids, wants to increase their heart rate with high-risk situations and/or is interested in social/politcal commentary.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I do, however, want to emphasise that I put the "please-check-cws" tag on this book for a reason. Check them if needed, and take care of yourself while reading.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ 'The Forest Bleeds' is set to release Oct 13 2026, which makes it a perfect pick to accompany you during spooky season. Make sure to pre-order it and/or add it to your TBR!


⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

"She could endure Arius. She could fold herself into that little box, smooth away her rough edges, and be the perfect pet he needed. She could endure, for them."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆



Want to buddy read this book now or in the future? You can do so on Storygraph, where I post more spoilery updates.

Follow me on Spotify for specific reading playlists like this one: 📚 Gothic 📚 Dark Academia 📚 Dark Fantasy | 📚 This Connection Is Muddled With Rot

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[veerali · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you netgalley & union square & co. for the eARC—all thoughts are my own!
✦ publication date: october 13, 2026

UNFORGETABLE EXPERIENCE

saige chambers is a arcane bioengineering student and blood witch. she is always prepared and likes to plan for everything. while riding a bus to a science conference with her fellow students, the bus suddenly drives to a large, creepy mansion in the mountains, and the gates lock behind them.

the owner of the mansion, a man named arius medea, gives them a dangerous order: heal his rotting, injured leg, or they will die. the injury is magical and makes saige’s blood burn. while her classmates want to fight and escape, saige believes the safest choice is to just heal him quickly and leave.

during this stressful time, saige grows closer to vaishnavi sri, a poison witch she has had a crush on for a long time. however, saige also starts feeling a strange, unexpected attraction to arius, making her wonder if she might actually want to stay in the mansion.

soon, saige's classmates start disappearing one by one. saige realizes that death might actually be the easy way out, because terrifying monsters are waiting for them in the dark woods outside.

okay, i honestly don't even know how to write this review, because this book literally put me through every single human emotion possible.

first of all, this book is very gory with lots of explicit blood and body horror and i loved every second of it. the writing itself is just amazing.

i ended up relating to the main character, saige, way too much. being a people pleaser and a perfectionist definitely runs in my veins, so i saw a lot of myself in her. on top of that, the mental health representation is done so well, and the diverse cast of characters made the whole story super interesting to read. i also loved saige’s love interest, vaish, she is amazing and i adore her.

because we explore some really heavy stuff in this book, definitely make sure to check the trigger warnings before you dive in!!

now, we need to talk about saige and arius. their relationship made me feel so uncomfortable because it felt borderline manipulative. i kept wondering if i'm actually supposed to be attracted to this man? because let's be real, he is straight up evil, and I am definitely not here to romanticize him.

overall, i really loved the premise. the high stakes and intense tension made me want to keep reading, even though it stressed me out completely, lol.

⤿ southeast asian witches
⤿ "my perfect pet"
⤿ every 3 days someone will die
⤿ neurodivergent main character
⤿ appalachian folklore
⤿ STEM dark academia
⤿ sapphic romance subplot
⤿ body horror
⤿ the forest screams

[Kaitie Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

💛 Gothic + Body Horror
☠️ Dark Academia
💛 Trapped
☠️ Appalachian Setting
💛 FMC w/ Anxiety

I'm a little bit conflicted about this one! I enjoyed it, and the on-page tension is palpable, but I felt that there were elements that could have been a little more fleshed out.

•

When five witch doctoral candidates depart for a conference, they don't expect a detour that lands them in the home of vindictive psychopath Arius Medea. Saige, a blood witch, and her colleagues are given a task: solve the mystery of Arius's rotting, festering, magic-cursed leg, or die. Time is ticking, and they must either work together to solve his ailment or find a way to escape while surrounded by Appalachian forest and unknown horrors.

•

Honestly? I felt this book was trying to do too much, packing in a lot of themes and ideas that didn't fully land. I don't want to critique the story harshly because it is creepy and visceral; it contains some great representation, it has descriptive gothic decay, and so many themes that I love—and it is an incredibly immersive story, too. I was able to read it fairly quickly, as it doesn't have any slow or lagging parts. I liked Saige as our main character; I thought that she was dynamic and relatable. However, I felt that the other main characters didn't have as much nuance or stand out to me. The concept of a group of essentially witch scientists trapped in a gothic estate with a murderous psychopath was well done. I also loved the combination of natural magical affinity blended with STEM and medical breakthrough.

Again, my biggest issue is that there is so much packed into the story that it doesn't fully land in all of its parts. The villain, to me, is just kind of like a comedic, generic bad guy; he doesn't have a lot of depth or reasoning behind his choices. We are also supposed to believe that Saige is attracted to or enamoured with him, but this aspect feels overly forced and icky (and I know it is supposed to, but I didn't think the description of her feelings aligned with her character traits). There is also a sapphic romance subplot with Saige and another character, Vaishnavi—but this felt shoehorned in. Their relationship blooms suddenly under pressure, but I didn't FEEL their connection. The monsters in this story felt underdeveloped, and kind of just there to serve the purpose of keeping our group trapped. Because the magic is never explained in depth, it's hard to understand the different types of magic and thus the mechanisms of everything that's happening.

It's a story with ~a lot~ of moving parts. I think this could have benefited from a little more explanation of why things are happening a certain way, rather than squeezing in romance, attraction to the villain, and repetitive scenes that I felt ultimately didn't amount to anything concrete purpose. There are also shifts from more YA-coded scenes thematically to very adult body horror and visceral gore that feels a little jarring at times.

This review feels harsh, and I don't intend it to be; but there is so much to speak on when it comes to the themes and building blocks of this story. I wish it had delved a little deeper into some of its core themes, while letting some of the broader themes fall by the wayside. For a gothic horror, it is doing so much at once that it feels like it doesn't leave much breathing room to connect with what's happening.

Overall, it's definitely immersive. I liked the prose. I loved the main character, the anxiety rep, and how she processes her surroundings. I just wish that I had felt more connected to this story—and ultimately its resolution.

•

Thank you to Union Square & Co for the ARC of this book. All thoughts and feedback contained within this review are my own.

[Brend · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one will be included in my next reading vlog 🫡
https://www.youtube.com/@alsobrend

I do feel bad for the people who are not able to picture vivid images in their minds as they read, because this one was playing as a movie the whole time for me. Someone call A24.

The reason why it lost me a little was all the STEM talk. Look, I'm a social sciences woman. I understood everything they were talking about, but in a student type of way. They talked about something I had no idea about, i get everything they’re saying, it makes sense, im not confused… but i have nothing to add to the conversation.

So just know: I liked the horror elements, the set up, the villain, and most of all, our FMC, who is very smart, has a lot of family related trauma and is neurodivergent. I really liked reading about her, I just wish she was having a better time, cause she was really going through it in this story.

[Ari ☠︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yall… this fucking book 😭 For the first time in my life, I loved a book so goddamn much I LITERALLY stopped reading it for 2 weeks because I was dreading it being over 😭 I loved it so SO much! Like how in the world is this @rachkitchwrites first book???? She will FOREVER be an autobuy author for me.

I related SO much with Saige with all the compulsions, schedules, and always having everything planned out. It can be so exhausting and debilitating having your brain constantly going and never turning off. The story and descriptions were vivid and I felt like I was legitimately watching a movie. The dark academia vibes mixed with the cryptids were CHEFS KISS. And chapter 16? CRUSHED ME. I was sending real time pictures of me SOBBING to Rachel so she could see what she was doing to me 😂 like girl, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HURT ME SO BAD 😭 And do not even get me started on the sexual tension between Saige and Vaish 😮‍💨 Like please Vaish, RUIN MY LIFE.

Thank you so much to @unionsqandco and @rachkitchwrites this amazing arc! I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am to have received this arc!!!

The Forest Bleeds will be released on October 13th and is available for preorder now!

[annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a ride! This was the first book I've read in awhile that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. While the action is tightly paced, the author also does a great job of immersing us in the main character's perspective; her anxieties and insecurities felt like they had become my anxieties and insecurities while I was reading. My only complaint is that some of the supporting characters fell a bit flat, and there were a couple of "tell don't show" moments when the author was describing their traits.

If you're looking for an Appalacian horror with a unique premise and a level of gore that will make your skin crawl this Halloween, this is the book for you!

Thanks to Netgalley and Union Square & Co. for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Nicholas Perez]

Probably one of the most hyped sapphic novels on my feed. One of my twitter mutuals read the early version and she gushed about it.

[Bazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

long story short: this is a perfect urban fantasy horror story for very picky readers
yes, there are some flaws here and there, but the atmosphere absolutely outweighs everything else

did I believe in the main character, in her struggles, her choices? yes. and I really appreciate the author for touching on the people-pleaser theme and carrying it through to meaningful character development

Big thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for the ARC and for bringing a spooky Halloween atmosphere right into the middle of April 😁

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for the ARC!

The Forest Bleeds was disappointing to me, because it had so many elements I really enjoyed and which made it a genuinely good read. Unfortunately, they were all being undermined by a rotten central support - the main premise.

The main character, Saige, is super interesting, and as a neurodivergent person, I connected with her struggles immediately. Her feeling of being somehow fundamentally broken inside and trying not to show it, of trying to be perfect while feeling like a fraud, of feeling like she doesn't fit in anywhere - these resonated with me so strongly. Kitch isn't afraid to show all the ugly, messy parts of being neurodiverse (specifically having OCD, in Saige's case) and I applaud her for that. I loved Saige's journey throughout the book, how she came to realise that having to build her own structure is worth it for her own freedom.

In contrast to some reviewers, I don't think her relationships with Vaish and Thuy, the other two main characters, felt unnatural or unbelievable. Thuy was a little cool toward her in the beginning and warmed up over the course of their ordeal, but was still willing to call Saige out when needed. Her powers were super interesting, and I wish we'd gotten to see a little more of them! Vaish clearly liked her in the beginning, even if Saige's self-hating nature was telling her she didn't, and I liked the way they supported each other throughout the book. I did think their romance was cute, but it felt a bit underdeveloped, and wasn't focused on as much as I would've liked. It was nice, but it needed more to be convincing. 

By contrast, I wasn't convinced by Saige's relationship with Ian. He seemed to mostly ignore her while he was on-page, especially at the beginning, acting like they were just classmates - and yet after he died, we were told in a flashback that his family had all but informally adopted her? It didn't ring true. Ian as a character felt very disposable, as did Meredith, which is why it didn't surprise me when they were the ones to die. Kitch falls into the trap of not investing into the characters she knows are going to die, which makes the audience not invest in them either, meaning we don't care when they get killed. 

The relationship between Saige and Arius was a very uncomfortable but realistic portrayal of abuse. Everything between them felt like a sharp commentary on the insidious ways men want to control women - say they’ll “give them everything” and seem to be doing so, but in reality, they just want an automaton. I did like that he became clearly more unhinged over the course of the novel, steadily showing more and more of his evil side. It made me so mad with him, because I could see his manipulation techniques, setting Saige up to fail and then getting oh so “disappointed” with her when she did. He was a really effective villain in that way, because he totally set my teeth on edge!! And the fact that he found out about Saige and felt so proprietary toward her all from a single research proposal felt so scarily true to how real stalkers behave, fixating on women and what they 'owe' to them when they're just trying to get on with their life. And yet I really liked that Saige did have to struggle with the choice of whether or not to join him, because yeah, there is a strong temptation in the idea of having everything easily laid out for you and having enough money to realise everything you want, especially when you’re neurodivergent and you already feel like you don’t fit in/like no one will understand you, and the world is constantly trying to undermine you as you’re trying to set your life up in the way you need.

The bioengineering and magic worldbuilding was fun and interesting! Though I did at times feel that Kitch could have gone even harder on it. There were moments when it just felt like our world with 'people can do magic' tacked on, rather than it being fully thought out how that would change things. That didn't fully impact that story though because the novel didn't focus much on the outside world, and the impact of magic on their specific area of medicine/bioengineering was clear enough.

But right, that rotten load-bearing support beam. We've got to talk about that. And that support beam is... the "you have a certain number of days" premise. Or, more broadly, the fact that our villain Arius... is just kind of really, incredibly stupid. Yes, he's menacing; yes, he's realistically repugnant, as a man who made millions through unethical pharmaceuticals should be; and yes, his relationship with Saige is very tense and twisty and a gut-churning portrayal of abuse. He is all these things, and these things are good. But he's also a dumbass, and it undermines the whole novel.

Firstly, the main premise of the novel - that being Arius' plan to grab the students and keep them captive for a certain number of days, killing them off until they heal him - is just plain shoddy. For one thing, he’s already well aware of what they need to do to heal him, so why is he playing around making them work it out? He never explains this, and there seems to be no reason for it other than him liking to fuck with Saige’s head - or, more to the point, because otherwise we wouldn't have a plot. And this is why this premise just doesn't work, because I can tell this was done to try and heighten the drama in the novel, rather than because the character had a logical reason for doing so. Upon realising this, the reader is thrust out of the narrative and their immersion in the story. The more the story went on, the more I questioned why he was even kidnapping them at all, rather than luring them in with money, research grants, job offers, etc. He couldn't even follow through on his threat to kill Vaish, because he needed her and Saige, so what would he have done if they'd taken longer to figure things out? (And, again, why is he making them do that if he already knows the answer? This serves no purpose, so it makes the entire novel feel like it has no purpose, because everything the characters learn is a mystery the villain has already solved and no logical reason is presented for him making them solve it again. Like, sorry to keep harping on this point, but it completely undermines the story!). If Arius' goal was to get Saige under his spell, it seems like he could’ve won her over far more easily if he’d come disguised as a decent guy who’s interested in all the same things as her and offering a rigidly structured environment for her to work in. It had me wondering if Kitch was aware that the character she’d set up would absolutely take that deal and she couldn’t think up a way for Saige to snap out of it, so instead of slowly building up the creepiness until Saige breaks and gets out, she relies on the crude and unwieldy ‘arbitrary number of days’ premise. A slow-burn, slow-creeping realisation that she's becoming a 'pet' and enabling Arius to do horrible things would've hit a lot harder, and made Saige's feelings for Arius far more believable, because they feel very out of place in the novel as it stands considering how horrible, abusive and manipulative he is. In short, this felt like a book that needed a more horror based premise, rather than pulling from the thriller playbook.

Secondly, WHY IS THERE NO DOCTOR. Saige keeps commenting on the fact that it's weird that there's no one around who has proper medical training, as if Kitch thinks that by constantly pointing to the logical inconsistency, that will make said inconsistency make sense. But it doesn't. No matter how many times Saige points it out, not having a doctor on site is insanely dumb. It wouldn't matter if it was someone who had been pulled in like them, or someone hired on like the guards, they should have had a doctor. Not least for the complex medical procedure on Arius' leg, but just in case either of the people who are key to his plan get hurt. Case in point, a wound in Thuy’s shoulder is at one point described as being “open to the bone” and there’s no doctor to patch her up?? (Also she’s just sitting on the couch like this is normal um. No girl, she would be in bed, probably sweating and screaming in pain bc she also had no painkillers!!) Also, why on earth would Arius risk the people he needs in order to cure himself by not putting enough guards around to keep them out of the forest and not having a doctor to patch them up if they get hurt? He apparently meant for them to go running out in the forest and discover the creatures, but he had no guarantee they wouldn’t just kill Saige and Vaish and therefore kill any chance of healing his leg. This reveals a flaw in the way Kitch plots, as she's thinking from her perspective as the author, not Arius' perspective as the character. As the author, she knows she's not going to kill off the girls, so she can let them go running into the woods for a cool horror chase scene. But Arius, in the world he inhabits, has no such guarantee. There's no reason he would let them risk themselves when he needs them to heal him, so he ends up looking like an idiot again by doing so. 

Another problem is located right at the opening of the book in the extremely pointless prologue. Not only do we learn all the information given to us in this prologue later on in the main narrative, but the prologue sets us up to expect a focus on coal barons vs mining unions and the history of this part of the state, which wasn't then picked up properly in the narrative. I felt like having a witch who could literally fix your soul in endless torment after death should’ve killed any unionising entirely, and yet we’re told in one line she just “escapes” like it’s nothing? And then there’s more unionising? Or is there - is it the explosion which ends up killing the mine? We don't really know, because the timeline is messy and the book glosses over it. The clashes over the mine and the town's history are peripheral to the story, despite being put front and centre in the first chapter that we read, which makes me wonder why that choice of prologue was even made. Also, Arius is the great-grandson of the guy who gets tortured for organising the union, and the book goes on and on about being connected to the land and knowing your history being very important for magic, and yet that thread feels so tragically underbaked when it comes to Arius and his magic. Okay, he sets up his lab in an old mining tunnel, but… that’s kind of it. That could've been such a great source of tension between him and Saige, whose mother intentionally disconnected her from her Thai heritage, and yet it manifests as one jibe from him and nothing else. 

This feels slightly nitpicky, but my final quibble was with the title itself. The novel is called "The Forest Bleeds," and yet the forest is barely relevant at all. The scenes and descriptions we do get of it are creepy, but it felt underused, and in many cases forgotten about. I kept expecting Saige to want to dig deeper into it after the weird things she saw the first night - or at least look out at it again - but it becomes relevant only when they decide to escape, and after that, fades into complete irrelevance again. The beasts Arius creates are also a really creepy idea, but unfortunately also felt underused.

The thing is, The Forest Bleeds held my attention all the way through, and I enjoyed reading it. The prose itself is great, really fast-paced without feeling choppy; Kitch creates a good sense of atmosphere and place, with chilling descriptions. I really liked the characters, especially Saige, and I thought there were a lot of fun, interesting horror ideas here. Unfortunately, the book is tragically let down by the faulty central premise, which seems to stem from the common mistake of the author thinking "what needs to happen for us to have a plot?" rather than "what would this character do, and how can I make that conflict with my other characters?" In the end, it feels like this central premise has been ripped haphazardly from a thriller novel and pasted onto the fabric of horror-focused ideas that make up the rest of the book, and the edges haven't been fused together in a way that makes sense.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got an arc from the publisher 4.5/5

Appalachian Horror is a quickly expanding niche and for good reason, and this is such a welcome edition to that canon. This book is proof that the scariest thing out there isn't the monster in the woods, it's an entitled white man who's never heard no. This book is such a love letter to Appalachia while also being downright terrifying, and I love horror that not only incorporates a neurodiverse perspective, but has neurodivergence (autism and ocd in this case) be instrumental in surviving.
Overall, this was great and Saige needs a hug ASAP.

[almostsalad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect when going into the book beyond "witches in stem" but it was a very interesting read. I thought the idea of using arcane magic with medical science was such a fascinating and unique take. I think Kitch did a wonderful job integrating the arcane magic with the science by making it fit seamlessly. Kitch portrayed someone with OCD and going through panic attacks in a realistic way. Saige is an good character because she's flawed but grows throughout the book. Her desire to do what she's told in a dangerous situation is explained well. I'm glad she was able to change and come into her own (despite the trauma that will most likely stay with her).

I wish there was more exploration on Saige's relationship with certain characters. Meredith died within the first couple of pages, and since she was barely in the book, it felt more for shock value and to show how bad the villain is than for anything else. Ian was developed a bit more but most if it came after he disappears/dies. I would've liked to see him and Saige interact in person more before Ian's end. The moments between Saige and Vaish were really well done but I think it felt it needed a bit more development. Still, they have a very good relationship together by balancing each other out and respecting each other's abilities. I love Thuy so much! She came off a bit cold toward Saige, but it was obvious she cared deeply. Seeing her warm up to Saige was sweet, but Thuy still continued to call Saige out when need be. A true friend is someone who supports but is also willing to call out bs without making drama.

Arius was a fine villain if not at times a bit too cartoonishly evil. Him killing Meredith at the start was a way to show he's evil, but it also felt kind of overused. "The best way to establish the villain as truly evil is to kill off an innocent person and preferably someone within the MC's circle" type of overused. Kitch did a great job making me hate Arius, though. Every time he came into the story I felt gross. His use of manipulation with Saige is a very real way many abusers are able to "control" their partners. I got so angry when it was revealed that Arius felt entitled to Saige. It was very reminiscent of how some men feel that they are entitled to their partner just because. Arius a good commentary on the type of men who get off on power imbalance and believe the world (especially) women should fall to their feet just because their mediocre white men with money. Also, I very much felt the fetishization of Asian women in my soul especially with Saige's parents.

Though for someone as calculating and smart as Kitch wants us to believe Arius is (he's always two steps ahead of the main characters) it felt silly that he didn't have an actual doctor. I know I should believe that as PhD students they're all super smart, but I had a hard time believing that someone with no medical knowledge (beyond some anatomy courses) could cut off dead skin and do a skin graft after reading about it. I realize that Saige had to be the one to do the skin graft but I feel like if there was a doctor there guiding her through the process, it would have felt a bit more realistic rather than silly.

I liked the inclusion of the cryptids of Appalachia (big Fallout 76 fan!) even though it felt kind of underused. I think it would have been interesting to just introduce them at the start as the guards. Or at least sooner in the story. Still the idea of Arius making these cryptids was an interesting spin on the folklore.

There's a lot of commentary that the author makes (big pharma, fetishization of Asian women, the model minority myth, racism, loss of personal history and culture in order to fit in, etc.) that I won't touch on beyond that Kitch did a wonderful job incorporating those themes into the story. I never felt like Kitch was "preaching" in my face about them.

Definitely a good read with a spooky atmosphere and strong female characters.

[Natalie Schloss · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

In the spirit of grad school I will write this review as if it is one of the many self reflection forms I fill out a week.

What went well: OCD/neurodivergence/anxiety representation that didn’t shy away from the ugly side of OCD and how deeply I saw myself in Saige (spooky), atmosphere (I somehow wanted to be in the mansion wearing the gowns (minus the whole stalker predator who owns the mansion thing y’know)), super interesting mix of stem and the arcane more of that please!!

What can be improved: I did not buy a single relationship in this book 🧍‍♀️, the story could’ve have either taken more time to unfold or tried to do a little bit less but there were too many great ideas packed too tightly, I know it was intentional but I hated the dynamic between Saige and Arius and wonder if the same effect could have been achieved with less descriptions of his biceps

[Theta Chun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did receive an ARC from the author for being Gay, Thai, STEM grad student.

I did REALLY enjoy this book, but I also do wish it'd been about 100 pages longer. The Forest Bleeds is, frankly, at its best when it's making you feel uncomfortable, and when we're really in the head of the main character. Unfortunately this is not the entirety of the book. and for Kitch to cover all the ground she does in the book, she must move fast.

It's a strange thing to say that a book suffers from being too tightly paced, and from softer moments, but frankly Kitch is fantastic at writing the creeping feeling of dread, and the minute horrors of the world. The faster movements of the book, unfortunately, cut through this dread, by having move past it oftentimes too quickly. Throughout the book our MC, Saige, is put in increasingly uncomfortable situations with the antagonist, and every time I could feel my skin crawling. That man was fucking disgusting, and she writes it so well. Similarly excellent, is Saige's own interior stress. I'm unsure if she has OCD or bipolar disorder, it's never really said, but we are told she has some kind of disorder, and that how she manages it, is with an extremely strict schedule, and that breaking this schedule in the past has led to mental breakdowns. Kitch handles this all excellently, and it both informs the choices Saige makes in such clear and interesting ways. Combined with her wish to conform because of her familial background, it really plays nicely together with themes of the model minority myth. Unfortunately the scenes with the actual love interest, and Saige's classmates, are not quite as compelling. I think they maybe would've done better with even more conflict. We do see them argue, but, frankly, everyone except for the villain, are incredibly kind people, and so conflict is quickly resolved through conservation. It's, again, a place where more time would've helped a lot.

The magic system we see in the book, while not expansive, also works incredibly well because of the story being told. The magic system we're introduced to is a hereditary magic system reliant upon cultural belief, and seemingly, genetic inheritability. People from the same family tend to have the same magic, and that magic is rooted in their culture, even when they're unfamiliar with it. Saige's lack of skill with her magic, largely comes from her lack of familiarity with Thai culture due to having grown up mixed race and in the US. Thus her learning how to control and use her magic, comes with her learning more about her culture. It's an incredibly example of a soft magic system that couldn't be improved upon by being made harder. It compels the story forward, compels character growth, and compels a kind of softness.

Another incredibly strength of this book is Kitch's thematic ability. I know that's a bit strange to say, but I have read a lot of books which are not particularly coherent. Not in the sense that they're difficult to understand, but in the sense that their plots, themes, and motifs do not inform each other as well as they should. Kitch doesn't struggle from that. This book, is, again, incredibly tightly written. There are a number of very predictable reveals throughout the book, but none of them detract from the story in any meaningful way. While I know everyone wants a miraculous plot twist, quite frankly a well-handled, but predictable one will almost always better choice than a unpredictable one. If your story is made worse by being spoiled, it's not a good story. Kitch understands this, she foreshadows the twists well enough that they can be predicted, and that they fit into the story being told. It's a great thing to read a book where I don't feel like I walked away with loose threads that shouldn't be loose, and subplots that undermine the themes of the book. Kitch has a great handle on making subplots, and main plots, and one off notes, and earlier mentions, all feed into the ultimate themes of the story that she's trying to tell. It's incredibly satisfying.

Ultimately the Forest Bleeds is a incredibly fun debut book, though not a particularly scary one. I do really look forward to reading more from Kitch in the future, and if you're looking for a fun thriller about Asian American conformity in capitalist America.

[Talia N · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you to netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

put a finger down if you’ve ever been en route to a science conference but your bus gets hijacked and you arrive at a mansion with a BBEG (big bad evil guy for those unfamiliar) who forces you to figure out how to fix his rotting leg otherwise he’ll start killing your friends

so i had pretty high hopes for this one and while i definitely had some things i enjoyed, ultimately i just felt a little underwhelmed :/

i really appreciated the representation of anxiety here, the way it affects the protagonist’s day to day life, how she navigates the world, it all felt real and it made saige a relatable character in the beginning. i also really enjoyed the body horror aspect of this story, the concept of a limb dying and coming back to life, just to die again and repeat the cycle was pretty cool and probably is one of the more memorable aspects of this book.

the combination of “horror” (and i’m putting that in quotation marks intentionally here) with an academic setting and cast was a really interesting mix that i enjoyed, i don’t think i’ve ever come across something like this before and i really liked seeing how magic and science were woven together in this world. that being said, i do think the urban fantasy aspect took me out of the story a little but that’s just a personal preference. however, the thai representation was such a pleasant surprise. this is probably the first novel i’ve read with a (part) thai protagonist and seeing little details here and there of my culture was such a nice feeling.

unfortunately though, i think the biggest issue for me was the pacing. this book felt a little too short for the story it was trying to tell and everything moved too quickly so i didn’t quite feel as invested as i should have been in what was happening. again this is just personal preference, i tend to enjoy longer novels and series because i like having enough time and space for a build up and eventual pay off. here, i felt like there just wasn’t quite enough room for the characters and their relationships to develop in a way that felt natural, which in turn also made the more emotional moments feel less impactful.

arius was an okay villain, i could understand his motivations and everything but after his initial introduction and that one death, his character started feeling like your standard BBEG. things became increasingly predictable and his obsession with saige i think could have benefitted a lot from being foreshadowed earlier on in the story.

ultimately, i don’t think there was really anything in this book that really blew my mind. it was a fun read with some interesting ideas and i definitely appreciated some aspects of it but honestly i don’t think this is a particularly memorable book for me. i guess there’s more that i could say but at that point i’d just be nitpicking so i’ll leave it here.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Anyone who grew up in Appalachia knew it: respect the earth, and it will respect you back.”

As a native of Appalachia, I love reading Appalachian gothic stories, and this one did not disappoint in that regard. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the amount of telling instead of showing, and use of filtering verbs--while some of this can be explained by Saige’s mental illness, it made for a frustrating reading experience.

Despite that, I stayed up past my bedtime reading the night I started this book. It’s a compelling, easy to read story, even if what is happening is horrifying. I loved the authentic lore used, the emphasis on friendship, and feminist empowerment..

The ending and the author’s note brought tears to my eyes.

Trigger warnings for torture, gore, hunting, murder, mental illness, self harm, body horror/transformation, sexual assault, burial alive.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Union Square for my free e-ARC! It has not affected my honest review.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The FMC Saige (a medical scientist and blood witch) is abducted with her work colleagues and taken to a mansion - they are instructed to solve the health issue of the house owner. What ensues is a terrifying few days where each day they do not solve the issue, one of them dies.

The Forest Bleeds have themes of anxiety, OCD, and perfectionism, which add an interesting layer.

Dark academia taking place in Appalachia - it did sound like something for me, but I I felt the relationships were a bit underdeveloped and I didn't connect with the characters. It's probably me - not the book. Again.


Thanks to NetGalley and Union Square & Co for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Siavahda · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Highlights

~necromancy! so much necromancy!
~know thyself = power
~but what if someone knows you better than you do?
~not a love triangle, something much more fucked-up
~SOMEONE needs lessons in BDSM etiquette (it’s not the heroine)

The Forest Bleeds is a book I picked up on a whim (I did not see any of the social media hype I’ve since seen referenced, I just found the book on Netgalley and thought ‘why not?’) and ended up devouring in a single day.

The prose is plainer than I usually like, though there are some lovely and powerful images scattered throughout. But it’s far from bad prose, and anyway it was more than made up for by the incredibly compelling cast! The heart of this book is its characters, and Kitch has crafted them expertly; all of them feel like flesh-and-blood people, real and alive and vivid. Even the most minor characters shone whenever they were on-page.

Saige is a PhD student with clinical anxiety (and possibly OCD?), studying ways for witches – whose abilities tend to be very hard even for other witches to replicate – to mass-produce their gifts for healing. She manages her anxiety with medication, and by massively preparing for all possibilities; when she and her peers set off to a convention, she has everything from the timetable to the floormap and fire escape routes memorised. The book description calls it being over-prepared; I call it impressive, personally. Less impressive is her reflexive people-pleasing, and her struggle to make decisions for herself – she’s the only one of her cohort who hasn’t settled on a thesis topic yet because she can’t decide.

Which makes the rigid schedule of their captivity weirdly reassuring for her. And it rapidly becomes clear that that might be the point, because Arius, their captor, seems to know all about them. And he’s especially interested in Saige.

The Forest Bleeds is a bit contemporary fantasy – this is a world where witches are known and mostly normalised – a bit dark academia, and more than a bit thriller. The romance that develops between Saige and Vaish is fairly low-key and slowburn – and stands in contrast (and conflict) with Saige’s confused feelings about Arius. But this is not a love triangle: Arius is genuinely a monster, toxic masculinity turned to the max, and Saige is never in doubt that choosing him would be a horrific mistake. The fact that his controlling behaviour is kind of comforting for her anxiety doesn’t mean it’s not abusive behaviour, and the way Saige has to wrestle with the fact that part of her does find it appealing is handled really well.

This book turned in so many directions I didn’t expect: a lot of it is about identity and personal history, the struggles of being a BIPOC in the US, of being raised to see yourself only as American, of being cut off from your heritage. Saige herself is biracial Thai-American, and white-passing, and I think the fact that the reader doesn’t know that for a fair chunk of the book is deliberate, is Kitch making a point of how divorced from her roots Saige is. And to be clear, Saige is also cut off from the white side of her heritage; her dad’s mother was a witch of extreme importance to her community, but Saige’s dad wouldn’t let them connect. Between that and not being taught Thai (thus being unable to communicate with her mother’s side of the family, and their magical heritage) Saige really doesn’t know her own witchcraft – she struggles to control it and definitely doesn’t know what it’s good for.

So a good chunk of this book is a coming-into-her-power story, both in a literal sense – Saige figuring out her magic – and in a more metaphorical sense, as she has to dig into depths she didn’t know she had to survive. Part of that is learning more about her heritage, via Vaish and Thuy, the other women trapped with her; there’s a very clear theme of ‘true power comes from self-knowledge’, because it’s only in fully embracing (what she knows of, and what she can infer about) both sides of her heritage that she becomes a force to be reckoned with. It’s a journey of self-discovery, but on a rapidly-diminishing countdown.

The horror of it is the slowly-dawning realisation that Saige? Is not forging her own path, here. She’s following a path that Arius has already walked. And he’s even left sign-posts for her. There’s a disturbing, disgusting intimacy to it, a violation, that as she’s scrambling to learn about herself and her power, she’s only uncovering what Arius wanted her to find. He already knows everything about her, including an awful lot she didn’t know. It threatens to undermine the coming-into-your-power theme/arc I mentioned, because – someone’s walked this path before her. Everywhere she treads, Arius has already been. How can her own power feel like it’s her own, when he’s the one handing it to her?

Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!

[Julie Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review of advanced copy received from NetGalley:
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy!

I was initially drawn to The Forest Bleeds by its haunting title and promise of an immersive, dark setting. Rachel certainly has a knack for creating an eerie atmosphere, and the descriptions of the woods were the highlight of the book for me.

However, the story struggled to maintain its momentum. I found the pacing to be quite slow, and the character motivations didn't feel fully developed, making it difficult to stay invested in the outcome. While the prose is lovely, the plot didn't quite deliver the impact I was hoping for. 2/5 stars."

While I appreciated the atmospheric writing in The Forest Bleeds, the pacing and character development fell short of my expectations. I struggled to connect with the protagonist, which made the middle section feel like a bit of a hurdle. I think fans of very slow-burn, folk-horror-adjacent stories might enjoy the mood Rachel creates, but the narrative didn't quite click for me. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

[Angela · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Saige, Ian, Meredith, Thuy, and Vaish are five Arcane Bioengineering doctoral candidates at Western Virginia University on a road trip to a conference. When always-overly-prepared Saige notices that the bus has taken an unscheduled turn off the freeway, she starts to get nervous. She memorized the most efficient way to get to the conference, and they've got a schedule to keep! But when she brings up this anomaly to her fellow conference goers, they laugh it off since Saige "always has a stick up her a$$." But when the rest of the crew loses cell service and the bus driver won't acknowledge their pleas to pull over, they know something is wildly amiss. It turns out, they're headed to a remote mansion in the Appalachian Mountains where a rich guy creepshow named Arius lives. He's got a nasty magicallly-induced wound on his leg that won't heal, and he's decided to kidnap the students and force them to figure out how to heal him - or wind up dead if they're unable to complete the task.

This book has a lot of things going for it. The portrayal of our protagonist Saige as a neurodivergent OCD type felt very spot on. Her fears of imperfection, being late, and anything that wasn't by the book or on the schedule felt quite realistic. Her character was fully fleshed out and felt relatable to the me as the reader. Also, her relationship with Arius - while creepy and icky - felt legitimately like what an older man grooming a younger woman would look like. Additionally, I liked the world Kitch created where science and magic blended together. I'd read books with this idea before, but Ktich's execution was done fairly well. Also, I found the premise and the story to be quite entertaining. I blasted through it in a couple of days because I kept wanting to know what would happen next.

But since I rated this book 3.5 stars, you know there's a lot of negatives coming. There were so many plot holes, characters acting in a way that made no sense, dropped storylines, and contradictions that it really prevented me from thoroughly enjoying the book. Pretty much all of these are spoilers, so you've been warned!

The reader doesn't learn this until near the end of the book, but Arius had been stalking Saige for years and she was the only one he actually needed to heal his leg. Also, he knew how to heal his leg the whole time - he jut needed her magic to execute. Knowing this, it makes absolutely no sense that he kidnapped an entire bus of doctoral students, threatened to kill (and did kill!) them for not following the rules, and didn't give them the information the needed from the very beginning. He could've befriended just Saige - had his pharmaceutical company parter with her University on a project, started going to the same coffee shop and tempted her with a job she couldn't refuse, whatever - and slowly lured her into his clutches. Like a normal stalker. But he does the insane massive kidnapping instead - why? Because otherwise this book would have no plot - that's why.

On the first night, Saige is so terrified of the screams she hears in the woods and the multiple pairs of red eyes she sees when she looks out the window that she can't sleep and spends the night in the library. Yet we hear nothing about her having issues sleeping the next two nights nor does she tell anyone about what she saw. When the crew tries to escape on the fourth night, she's utterly surprised when they run into multiple creatures that scream and have red eyes who prevent their escape? What?

Arius said he will kill one of them every third night if his leg isn't healed. He follows through with this creepy promise on night three and then... just forgets on nights six and nine.

I'm kinda bummed to be giving this book a quasi-low score, because it was so entertaining and the writing style was quite good. But I really can't look past the book's glaring flaws.

Thanks bunches to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for this review!

[Ash Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

🩸 The Forest Bleeds- Rachel Kitch 🩸
The Forest Bleeds is speculative horror story inspired by Appalachian folklore, with a sapphic romance subplot and magical dark academia.
Saige, an Arcane bioengineering student and blood witch, is a chronic people pleaser, often anxious and always over prepared. Saige and her fellow witch doctoral candidates plan to attend a conference, but when their bus departs from the route and drops them at a remote mansion in the Appalachian mountains. The owner Arius Medea tells them they must fix his injured, rotting leg…or die. But Arius’ injury is more than a normal infection, a foul magic radiates from it. Saige and her fellow students will have to unpick the mystery, heal their captives leg and try to escape with their lives. With armed guards, surveillance, monsters in the woods and dark spirit magic, more than their lives could be at risk.

Arius is fixated on Saige. He knows every minute detail about her, Saige struggles against the urge to comply. She’s drawn to the mystery of Arius’ affliction and feels apart of the magic calling to her. Saige grows closer to Vaish as the tensions rise but this only infuriates Arius. As they began to unravel the dark truth around Arius, his injury and intentions they realise much more than just their lives is at stake.
This book keeps you on your toes, the atmosphere is unsettling and the story keeps surprising you. I also loved the characters.

What to expect:
- Appalachian inspired horror and cryptids
- Sapphic witches
- Witchcraft and modernity colliding
- The never ending reach of corporate greed
- Folklore, heritage and history influenced magic
- Female friendship, self discovery and hope

[Whimsy Dearest · Rating 3 out of 5]

On their way to a conference, five arcane bioenginnering students are kidnapped and imprisoned by a pharmaceutical CEO. He proposes to them this: find a cure to his diseased leg in exchange for their freedom. For every third day a cure isn’t found, one of them will die.

The Forest Bleeds by Rachel Kitch concocts a unique blend of science, magic, and Appalachian horror that oozes with atmosphere.

While I enjoyed this book though, it’s not without its debut novel pains.

The prologue of the book starts off a bit rough. It really could have benefited from tighter editing. The descriptions here were repetitive at times. For instance, the POV character, Wyatt, is described as both “calculating” and “calculated” on the same page. Also, in the opening scene, Kitch notes where Wyatt is standing, and then, two paragraphs later, she circles back to elaborate on how Wyatt is standing. Organization-wise, I felt like these should have been combined into the same paragraph.

However, once we get into the main story, the prose improves. The tension was fantastic, and it was really interesting seeing the characters use STEM (and magic!) in a race against the clock.

Thank you, Netgalley and Union Square & Co., for providing me with a review copy.

[Emily Eskew · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

I REALLY enjoyed this book!! I couldn’t stop reading!! I see that this is this author’s first book, and I just have to say, BRAVO!!! The only negative is that I wish we would have gotten some more lore about the past and all of that. I honestly wouldn’t have minded if the book would have ended on a cliffhanger. (I understand why there wasn’t). I would have liked to have seen the antagonist suffer more lmao. I wish we would have gotten more into how he knew all of the little details about her and whatnot. It seemed like he had been watching her for a LONG period of time. Anyways. I hope we get some more story in this world she has built!

ALSO, THANK YOU FOR ADDING SOME OF WEST VIRGINIA’S HISTORY IN THIS STORY!!!! I’m so glad that you love our state so much and represented it in a positive way. 💙💛

This story definitely had heart to it and I loved it!!! I can’t wait to see what she writes next!!!

[Ilonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a perfect book for spooky season! The plot was gripping and fast-paced. We are following Sage, a graduate student and witch, and her classmates as they are supposed to go to a conference but get detour ed to a Mansion in West Virginia instead to participate in a special project.

I loved the mix of magic and science, such a unique take. The author mixed cultural differences into the magic system and it was fascinating.

The mental health representation was very well done. The author did a good job incorporating the things that make West Virginia unique and the challenges of being biracial in American society.

Highly recommend this book for people looking for speculative horror.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Rachel Kitch and NetGalley for the eARC of The Forest Bleeds - all opinions are honest and my own ✨

First off - WOW! What a read this was, right from the start you’re hooked and experiencing this blend of horror magic that is woven throughout the entire book.

I loved our trio of main characters, you can feel Saige’s anxiety and the rage of Vaish and Thuy just radiating off the pages - definitely the type of final girls I loved watching in horror movies as a teenager

I’m not sure if it was the pacing or just how hooked I was but I flew through this, I would get to the end of the chapter and not want to stop - always a green flag for me!

A sapphic Appalachian horror with Asian influence that everyone needs to add to their TBR 🙌🏻

[Kristen]

Review of advance copy received from Netgalley

DNF @ 40%

I seem to be in the minority, but this just was not working for me. This has a very unique premise: witchy scientist, Saige Chambers, who on their way to a conference find themselves detoured to a creepy mansion with a dark history. The book opens with the backstory of the mansion, but other than it being the same location - I did not fully understand why we’re getting both stories. I kept waiting for more of a connection.

I found the pacing slow and I’m sure it was meant to be unsettling. I felt there was not enough to the setting, plot, and characters, for me to care.

[Deanna Flores · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Fans of bloody witchy revenge stories— this is the book for you!!

There were times where the pacing felt a bit repetitive, which is why I haven’t ranked this higher, but I really did enjoy this one and will be looking out for future titles by this author. Very good character building and development across the board, and moments that truly made me uncomfortable (in the best way!)

[Ashley Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

thank you NetGalley, the author and publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect creepy spooky fantasy horror for October! We follow Saige who is an extremely smart scientist and researcher, she’s also a blood witch! She finds herself in a horror story, along with her three colleagues. I never really knew where this story was going and it kept me on my toes until the end.

[Alex Ball · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

a hot billionaire kidnaps five arcane doctoral candidates and tells them to save his life, or die. set in the eerie, autumn mountains of west virginia, this debut novel is a bit of horror, fantasy and sapphic romance. i couldn’t anticipate what happened next & that’s what made it so fun to read!!

[From The Reader’s Nest · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a bastard!!

[Hoarding Wyrm | Jenn · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

RTC, a big thanks to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for the ARC!